Maintenance Months

Over the past few months we have been lucky to have Angus Boundaries once again to demonstrate their expertise in hedge laying. This year we re also trialling a different “style”, one which may look a little untidy in comparison to the artwork in previous year. However, with 180 km of hedges on the estate, we needed to find a compromise between speed and cost. Time will tell if this rougher style will gap up and regrow sufficiently.

Tree planting is almost completed for the season, replacing dead trees and gapping up woodland. We have trialled several biodegradable, cardboard and starch based tree guards over the year, and sadly, we are yet to find a suitable alternative to plastic guards. As we are organic – we don’t use any herbicides to help reduce weed pressure on the trees in the first few years – so our trees take a little longer to grow and the natural guards break down faster than the trees grow. So we will keep trialling new guards and keep recycling the plastic ones until we find a suitable alternative.

Balcaskie gardens are in the middle of a pretty significant overhaul. With Katherine and the team making huge inroads to clear away plants, overgrown hedges and re-establish flowerbeds, lawn edging and path widths – it has been all hands on deck, with Andy ad Dave also helping out fitting new wall wires for tying plants back and Poul and Jim manufacturing metal lawn edging in the workshop. It might look a bit drastic at the moment – but 2026 will transform the historic gardens.

January and February are maintenance months – since the days are short and often too wet for any fieldwork, it gives a chance to refurbish and maintain buildings and equipment. Septic tanks get emptied and electrical equipment PAT tested, machines serviced.

Preparing for calving and lambing not only ensuring all animals are vaccinated and mineral bloused but that the sheds are prepared, disinfected and equipment set up in preparation. Calving is due to start by mid Feb and lambing will start in early March – the checklist for the season is being ticked off one by one.

Forage conserved last summer is rapidly disappearing as we have more stock inside sheds this year than past. While we aim to keep our cattle out all year, there are some groups we have brought in for comparison. We have all of the 1 and 2 year old heifers in straw bedded sheds, leaving the male cattle outside. All cows are outside until just before they calve. By housing stock, we are able to make more farmyard manure into compost – something we need in order to replace the lost nutrients from selling grains and meat.